Contemporary Science Center P.O. Box 13453 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Board of Directors
Pamela Blizzard - Executive Director
Contemporary Science Center
Pamela was one of the key founders of Raleigh Charter High School, developing and implementing the educational and operational plans for the school, and has consulted with area charter schools since 2001. In the past she has worked in sales in graphic design in Raleigh, launched and ran a design and print business in Richmond, VA, published a newsletter for working mothers in California, and worked for nine years in finance and marketing for Hewlett Packard in California. She received an MBA from the University of Santa Clara, and a BA from Brown University.
Katrin Burt - Board Treasurer
Intersouth Partners
Katrin joined Intersouth Partners in 2004, serving as an analyst for two years before joining the information technology investment team. As an analyst, she worked across the firm to aid in both the analysis of potential new investments as well as the growth of Intersouth’s existing portfolio companies. Katrin joined Intersouth from London-based HSBC, one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world. At HSBC she moved through a series of roles, starting as a foreign exchange trader in London, managing portfolios of treasury products and equities in Tokyo and eventually moving to a business development role managing the annual operating plan for the bank’s billion-dollar Global Markets Europe Division. Katrin has served on the selection committees for CED’s Venture and Tech conferences and lectures at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. She holds a B.A. from Oxford University. She received an M.B.A. from Duke University and an M.S. in in Microsystems and Nanotechnology from Cranfield University.
Steven Carr
Attorney, Ellinger & Carr
Steve has been assistant corporate counsel for Progress Energy for many years, and joined private practice at Nelson Mullins, and Jordan Price. Steve is now in practice at Ellinger & Carr. Steve was Chair of the Board of Directors for Sterling Montessori Charter School for five years, on the board of Raleigh Latin School, and has been on the Long Range Planning Committee for Umstead Park United Church of Christ.
Judy Jones
Biology Teacher, East Chapel Hill High School
Judy is a 30 year veteran teacher of Biology at EastChapel HillHigh School, and one of the first recipients of the CSC Inquiry Fellowship. Judy has sat on numerous North Carolina educational councils and commissions, and brings vast educational experience and wisdom to the CSC Board.
John Kerr, IV, SIOR
Senior Vice President of Leasing, York Properties
John Kerr has been with York Properties Inc since 1988 after working three years in the Triangle’s residential real estate market. A native of Goldsboro, N.C. and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He specializes in office, warehouse and flex-space projects with an emphasis on West Raleigh and the I-40 Corridor. John is an active SIOR member specializing in industrial leasing and sales. He is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Triangle Commercial Real Estate Association, the premier broker professional group in the area with over 390 members. John was instrumental in the locating of Raleigh Charter High School at Pilot Mill in Raleigh.
Mike McBrierty
External Affairs, BiogenIdec
Mike McBrierty is Public Affairs Manager for Biogen Idec, a global biopharmaceutical leader. Mike oversees a range of public affairs functions for the company’s Research Triangle Park (North Carolina) operations, including government relations, community affairs, media relations and executive and internal communications. Prior to joining Biogen Idec, Mike served as Manager,
Global Government Affairs for SAS Institute, the world’s largest privately-held software corporation. Mike began his career at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as Program Coordinator for the Brazil-U.S. Business Council where he oversaw member services and programs. Mike earned a Master of Public Policy from Duke University’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy and a B.A. (magna cum laude) in Latin American Studies and Political Science from Texas A&M University.
Karen Ondrick
Community Relations, Lenovo USA
Karen Ondrick is Program Director for Community Relations at Lenovo's executive headquarters in Morrisville, North Carolina. Her responsibilities include acting as Lenovo's single point of contact for North Carolina and coordinating community outreach through various Lenovo employee volunteer initiatives, including the management of the annual Lenovo Employees Care charitable contribution campaign. Karen joined IBM in 1981 in Connecticut and spent 12 years in management positions in Northeastern U.S. branch, region, and headquarters sites. After relocating to North Carolina in 1993 as IBM Sales & Distribution Operations Manager for the Southeast U.S. Customer Support Organization in Raleigh, Karen transferred to IBM's Personal Computing Division in 1996. Karen held various management and staff positions in the Americas PC Division and assumed her current role in Community Relations for Lenovo in 2006, after Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's Global Personal Computing Division.
Dr. Peterson has over 15 years of academic and industry experience in vision science. He has served as Vice President of Discovery since December 2005. Prior to this position, as Vice President of Biology, Dr. Peterson supervised Inspire's Biology department (Molecular Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Screening, and Drug Evaluation) and worked with other Discovery functional group leaders to set the strategic direction for Biology. He is also the team leader for the glaucoma (cytoskeletal therapy) project. Prior to joining Inspire, Dr. Peterson was a retinal research scientist at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. He received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Dept of Molecular and Cell Biology and School of Optometry at University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded a research fellowship from the Foundation Fighting Blindness and a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Health in support of his post-graduate training at U.C. San Francisco and Berkeley.
Elaine is President of EIS Associates, a consulting firm specializing in enterprise-based public policy prescriptions for community, economic, and technology development. In the past she has been Program Manager for the Southern Growth Policies Board and Southern Technology Council, a Special Assistant to the Executive Director, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board in Washington DC, and was Budget Examiner in the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Office of Management and Budget, in Washington DC, where she was the principal staff architect of the Reagan Administration's 1983-86 initiative to reform the Civil Service Retirement System. She holds the M.P.P., from The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a B.A. also from The University of Michigan, and is currently working on a Doctorate in entrepreneurship and technology at North Carolina State University.
Tina Valdecanas
Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Research Triangle Foundation
Tina Valdecanas serves as Vice President of Corporate Strategy at the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, owner and developer of the renowned Research Triangle Park. Before coming to the Research Triangle Foundation, Ms. Valdecanas was Vice President for Product Improvement at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. She has also served in various capacities at the Arizona State University Morrison Institute of Public Policy, the US-ASEAN Business Council, the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, and the US Department of State. Ms. Valdecanas received her undergraduate degree from the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and her masters’ degree from the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Contemporary Science Center - Additional Support
Lilly Skok Bunch
Strategic & Fundraising Consultant
Lilly has almost 20 years of fundraising and non profit management experience, having served as chief development officer for a number of diverse organizations. Before starting her consulting business, she was Vice President for Development and External Relations for Peace College, and before that worked at her Alma Mater Hollins College, and the National Center for Family Literacy in Kentucky among others. Her current consulting business has included as clients the Contemporary Art Museum, Alliance Medical Ministry and Raleigh Charter High School, as well as the Contemporary Science Center. Lilly consults from her new home in Lenoir, NC.
The Contemporary Science Center, P.O. Box 13453, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, 919-426-4274